The questions below were sent to each candidate competing in the race for Richmond School Board.
Matthew Percival
What's your perspective on RPS200?
I get this question a lot; and I think this is a topic that is a great example of not rushing into a solution that creates a larger problem. The short answer is that I think the current incremental rollout is the best solution. With pandemic learning loss and other challenges facing RPS, I’m finding that most of us agree that an elongated instruction year is the right prescription.
Earlier proposals that amounted to snapping our fingers and switching to a year-long calendar had unintended consequences. Teacher buy-in is probably the most significant. Teachers are our primary resource in the education pipeline, and retention is one of our stated strategic goals. We all have a decision matrix for how/where/why we work the jobs we work. Many teachers undoubtedly have factored in summers on some level of their matrix. If we were to lose even 5% of teachers to a rapid shift in the calendar, we’d likely find ourselves in worse shape than we started.
What is your take on the Dreams4RPS strategic plan? What would you change and what would you keep?
Dreams4RPS is an excellent touchstone. Had there not been an overarching plan, I would have pushed for one immediately. By its very nature a strategic plan is a living document, it needs regular input. So to answer the question, I would both keep everything and change everything. The stated goals are an excellent foundation. Over time I would hope that we’re taking new inputs and revising our priorities and focus based on the numbers. Attendance and teacher retention are great examples of this. It would be great to reach a point where these areas have reached a level where we can say, these are no longer priorities. We fixed it.
How will you address the needs of students from diverse backgrounds, including English learners, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students?
Every child deserves the best education they can possibly get. Period. That is the guiding principle of a school board: to provide the best education possible for every student.
Richmond is changing rapidly. People from every walk of life and economic background are moving to Richmond everyday. And why not? Richmond is amazing. One thing we need to focus on, however, is managing that change. It is getting more expensive to buy or rent in Richmond, and we run the risk of driving out disadvantaged families if we don’t manage the growth. We need to work with the city council and the mayor’s office to ensure there is adequate affordable housing in every district. In this way we promote diversity in every neighborhood as well as distribute the load of exceptional learning requirements across all schools.
What is your stance on the role of standardized testing in schools? How should student success be measured?
The Standards of Learning tests seem like a simple ask: how are students doing in core focus areas? But again the law of unintended consequences kicks in. What has happened is we’ve removed creativity and freedom from the classroom. Increasingly we see teachers with restricted curriculum and “teaching to the test.” I’ve yet to meet anyone who says, ‘hey, those SOLs are amazing!’
While the underlying ask is still valid: how are students doing; the problem starts when you tie too many goals to those outcomes. We need to start looking at rubrics of success that also include school satisfaction, graduation rates, and mental health metrics.
What's your strategy to address absenteeism?
From what I’ve seen, schools are doing what they can and they are seeing measured success: incentive programs, pizza lunches, knocking on doors, etc. The reality is, if we’re going to make the kind of change we need, we have to take the message to parents and the community. Culturally we’ve been making the shift to work-at-home environments, flexible schedules, a new work/life balance. While this is wonderful for increasing at-home time for families, it does not translate well to students in the academic environment. We really have to drive home the point: Every. Day. Matters.
We also have to maintain vigilance in areas where physically getting to school, and a feeling of security in school are barriers. This is where having multiple channels of communication are key. It’s not enough to have a single point of contact for truancy, we need to create an open atmosphere where students can approach anyone they feel comfortable with and explain their unique challenges. We need to make sure whoever initially gets that message has agency to act upon it.
What role does the district play in addressing gun violence?
When it comes to schools, the issue of guns is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. It is a heated topic from the national level to our own backyards. Regardless of one’s opinion on gun rights, we should all be able to agree that guns pose a threat in our schools. Whether it be mass shootings or accidental backpack stashes.
The value of what is contained inside the four walls of our school buildings is too high to ignore the threat of guns, or pretend that one individual holds more rights than those of our collected children. When the dog won’t wag the tail, we are forced to focus on mitigation. The problem with mitigation is there is no winning answer. Clear backpacks, metal detectors, bag checks; collectively they are mitigating the problem, but nobody likes it.
A big problem in our country is that we can’t even agree to have a conversation. What I would advocate is simply promoting conversation anywhere and everywhere we can. As simple as that sounds, we have to meet the problem where we at least have some chance of agreement.
What are your suggestions for addressing students' mental health?
I was excited when we cleared the obstacle of filling the Chief Wellness Officer role at RPS. I felt this would go a long way towards increasing the focus on mental health. We all feel the increased stresses of everyday life in our society. Life moves at a blistering speed compared to when I was in school. And those everyday stresses are only amplified by social media.
One of the insidious side effects of social media, ironically, is the isolation and splintering off of the individual from social interaction. Which is the end state for many mental health-related issues, including the burden of trauma that many of our students shoulder everyday. Part of a solution to isolation is creative collaboration. A marker of good mental health is participation and contribution within a group. We need to create safe spaces in our schools where students can collaborate on group activities and see themselves succeed among and with their peers.
